Mai's Ill
by Vannen Shantel
Summary: Mai shows up to work with a cold. Oliver never gets sick. An old question gets answered. Post Manga. One-shot.


Dr. Oliver Davis glanced at the clock in his office. Mai was late. Again. No real shock there. Except it was getting late, even for her. Almost an hour. He glanced at the phone on his desk. Should he call her? Make sure she was alright? He debated a moment more.

The bell over the office door jingled and he held in a sigh of relief. She was just late. No reason to panic. He went to his office door, prepared to give her a hard time for her tardiness.

The sight that met him gave him pause. Mai had grown since he'd brought his brother's body (cue the twinge of grief to scrape at his innards for a moment at the thought) back to England three years before. She was still short but she'd lost some of the baby fat around her cheeks and her eyes no longer seemed quite so wide and innocent. Her hair was almost the same length but had a different style to it, more mature, more elegant. Her smile was no longer as easy as it used to be. He blamed himself for that. Takigawa had told him just how despondent Mai had been for the years he'd been gone. He'd seen very little of it after his return a few months ago.

Today though, Mai looked like something the cat had dragged across razor wire, through the mud and rain, up a flight of stairs, and into the office. Her normally smooth hair was in disarray, dark circles stood out against her paler than usual skin, her nose was bright red and sore looking, and her overall posture spoke of aching joints and exhaustion.

"Mai," Oliver said and watched the young woman stumble and flinch at his voice.

"I'm sorry I'm late Naru," she said. She still hadn't given up on the nickname, even after all this time. "I had a hard time getting moving this morning."

"Why are you here?" he said. "You're ill." There was no point in beating around the bush. She looked like death warmed over.

"It's just a cold," Mai said. She fished into her bag and pulled out a surgical mask. "I'll try to keep from getting you and Lin-san sick," she said as she put the mask on, obscuring the lower portion of her face. She also pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer and rubbed some on her chapped looking fingers.

"Go home," Oliver said. "You get sick days. Use one. Rest."

"I'm fine, Naru," Mai said. He raised an eyebrow at her when she stumbled again. She was obviously dizzy. He also knew her tone of voice. She was in one of her stubborn moods. Fine. He'd deal with it.

"Stay there," Oliver said and went to Lin's office. He knocked on the door and then opened it. "I'm taking Mai home," he said. "She's sick. You've got the office for the day."

Lin nodded, not even bothering to look up from the case report he was reading through. "Don't get sick yourself," the older man said.

"I never get sick." Oliver closed the door and left.

"Let's go," Oliver said, returning to the main room of the office building. He grabbed his coat and scarf. Mai just stared at him. "Now, Mai." He said, holding the door open for her. Slowly, she nodded and fell in step behind him. Once out in the cold, Oliver led the way behind the building where his car was parked. He held the passenger door open for Mai, ignoring her curious look, and then climbed into the driver's seat. He soon had them on the road.

"I didn't know you drove," Mai said, leaning back into the seat. She inhaled deeply. The car smelled of books, cool autumn air, and Earl Grey tea, just like Naru. She tried not to dwell on that thought too much.

"Since I was fifteen," he said.

Mai opened her eyes and looked at him, surprised he'd bothered to respond to her comment.

Oliver mistook her surprise. "Gene and I decided it was a necessary skill to learn, whether we were legally old enough or not." He pushed the grief away again. It wasn't so hard these days to do so, but it still hurt.

"I'm sure your mother loved that," Mai said, trying to imagine Oliver as a rebellious teenager. It just didn't seem to fit.

"She was angrier with Meagan," Oliver said.

"Meagan?"

"Luella's sister. She lives in America where it's legal to drive at a much younger age. She's the one that took Gene and I out to the back roads and taught us after Gene pestered her into it."

Mai nodded and looked out the window. "Hey, Naru," she said. "This isn't the way to my apartment."

"Obviously," Oliver said, shifting into third gear as they moved into faster flowing traffic. He waited for the inevitable question. It took Mai a few minutes to ask it.

"Where are we going? To a doctor's office?" She sounded a little panicked at the idea.

"No," Oliver said and slowed the car, pulling it out of gear and into neutral so he could coast around the corner and into the parking garage. "A doctor's home." He pulled into a spot and climbed out of the car. He walked around the far side of the car and helped Mai out before closing the door and locking the car with his key fob. He was a bit surprised when she didn't protest as he led her into the attached apartment complex and into the elevator. It wasn't until they'd reached the right floor and the right door that she said anything.

"Wait. What doctor?"

Oliver pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. "Me," he said and ushered her inside.

Mai stumbled in shock as she crossed the threshold. Oliver had brought her to his home? She watched as he kicked off his shoes and locked the door behind them. He took her bag from her lax fingers and continued into the apartment.

"Stop gaping Mai," he said and led her to a bedroom. "You can stay here," he said. "Get some rest." Mai nodded and went over to the western bed, running her fingers along the dark comforter. She turned to ask her boss something but he'd already left, leaving the door open just a crack. Smiling to herself, Mai picked up the pair of shorts and t-shirt he'd placed on the bed. She quickly changed into them, trying hard to not think about the fact that they were his. She climbed into the bed, pulling the comforter up to her shoulders. She inhaled. The bed probably wasn't his. It didn't smell the same way he did, more like detergent and fabric softener. It still smelled slightly of him, just as his entire apartment did. With a smile, Mai drifted off to sleep.

Oliver spent the time working on his latest book. He'd have to work with Mai on it soon, considering it was mostly about her abilities. He'd have to start performing tests on her abilities. Hopefully, she'd be okay with it. He had yet to broach the subject with her. He glanced toward the hallway where he'd left her a few hours before. She'd been asleep for a while. It was getting close to lunch time. He went to go check on her.

She was still asleep, snoring lightly through her clogged sinuses. Her face was flushed. A little worried, Oliver went into the room and bent to feel her forehead. She was a little warm.

"Naru?" Her eyes were open a crack, looking tired and blurry.

Oliver crouched next to her, turning his hand so his palm rested against her forehead instead of the back of his hand. "I'm just checking your temperature," he told her. "You feel a little warm."

Mai nodded, her eyes closing again. Before Oliver could move away, she reached up and took the hand he'd just had on her head. "Stay?" she breathed, already half asleep.

Stay? What was the point in that? He hesitated. Her eyes opened again. She looked so tired. With a sigh, Oliver said, "Alright, let me get my book."

Mai smiled, releasing his hand. He retrieved his book only to find the young woman had already fallen back asleep. He took a seat in the desk chair and started to read. He placed his free hand over Mai's so she'd know he was there any time she woke enough to notice.

"How are you feeling?"

Mai looked over by her side where Oliver still sat, his eyes on the pages of his book.

"A bit better," she said. Her voice came out as a whisper. Oliver looked at her after noting his page number and closing the book.

"Mai?"

She lifted her hand out from under his (he'd been holding her hand?) and touched her throat. It hurt. She tried again. "I'm okay," she said. Again, she didn't get more than a whisper out.

Oliver scowled. "You've lost your voice."

"I think so," Mai whispered.

He thought for a moment. "There isn't a lot to do about laryngitis other than try not to talk," he said. "Are you feeling well enough to eat?"

Mai nodded.

"Come on then," he said and led the way to the kitchen. He set about making some soup for them.

Once they'd eaten, Mai went to sit on the couch while Oliver washed the dishes. She picked up one of his books and frowned. It was in English. She was still doing her best to learn the language and thought she'd been doing well but she seemed to only understand half the words in the book. Still, she started reading, trying to understand the unfamiliar words through context. She was doing okay when Oliver sat next to her.

"Mai," he said. She looked up from the book and set it aside, knowing his tone. He wanted to discuss something with her. She nodded at him, urging him to go on. It struck her at that moment that the two of them hadn't been alone, really alone, since Oliver had returned. There was always another person nearby, in the same room, or close enough that they could enter the room at a moment's notice. She wondered what he wanted and why he had waited until this situation to address it.

"You never did answer my question before I left for England," he said. Mai felt her stomach tie into a knot and her lungs stop working. "Me or Gene?" Oliver said. For all that he seemed calm and unconcerned, he wouldn't look at her, staring straight ahead toward the kitchen.

Mai smiled. Why did he have to wait for her to lose her voice to ask her this? She couldn't tell him who, not properly without her voice. Instead, she touched his shoulder and waited for him to turn to look at her. When he did, she smiled before grabbing his shirt and pulling him toward her. She kissed him, hands weak and trembling from her cold of course. She relaxed her grip when his hand slid into her hair.

Unable to hold her breath any longer, Mai broke the kiss and smiled at him. "You," she whispered. "Always you Oliver."

Oliver felt his mouth form into a rare grin before he kissed her again.

The next morning, Oliver called Lin. "You'll have to open the office on your own today." His voice sounded horrible to his own ears. "I caught Mai's cold."


End file.
